this is what i do

[elapses]

This would be what motivated me to make a LJ post: please name your top 10 romantic comedies, friends. Define "romantic comedy" however you see fit. (That sentence makes it sound like I want you to go indie or weird -- I don't, I just want to know your favorites. If your favorites are "You've Got Mail" and "Love Actually", that's what you should

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[disco_vendetta]

French Kiss, Les Grand Chaleurs aka Heat Wave, Love Actually, Tangled, The Proposal, Chocolat, Bend It Like Beckham, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, 10 Things I Hate About You, Bridget Jones's Diary

(What's Your Number missed out on the top ten by THAT MUCH before I remembered Bridget Jones, but it's not actually one of my favorite MOVIES, it will just always have a special place in my heart because of the time I live-tweeted it to torigates for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON except Chris Evans.) For me a romcom has very, very specific feel to it in that what makes me love it is both the main relationship(s) and how much I laugh when I watch it - like, it can have other things going for it, but it absolutely has to induce this REALLY precise feeling of giddiness every time I watch it (another sticking point: it has to feel this way consistently). So like, Practical Magic is one of my favorite movies, and it's a great romance and it has some funny parts, but it's too atmospheric and has too much else going on for me to consider it a romcom. Whereas The Princess Bride is sort of the exception that proves the rule because it's got TOO MUCH OF EACH for me to consider it a romcom, THAT MOVIE IS SUCH A BIG DEAL TO ME, IT MATTERS TOO MUCH TO BE A ROMCOM, IT'S SOMETHING ELSE. Which is I guess another rule, a romcom has to have an element of frivolousness to it, I have to be able to turn it off at any time and get on with my day without feeling emotional, even if I want to keep watching I don't NEED to keep watching, you know?

WOW, THAT GOT DETAILED, I DIDN'T KNOW I FELT THIS STRONGLY ABOUT ROMCOMS.

[disco_vendetta]

OH, SHOOT, I FORGOT ABOUT PENELOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to swap out Penelope for The Proposal because I've only seen it 1.5 times, which ISN'T ENOUGH TO QUALIFY, I'M DECIDING. YOU CAME REAL CLOSE, THE PROPOSAL, BUNCH YOU DON'T HAVE JAMES MCAVOY KISSES, SORRY.

[elapses]

Which is I guess another rule, a romcom has to have an element of frivolousness to it, I have to be able to turn it off at any time and get on with my day without feeling emotional, even if I want to keep watching I don't NEED to keep watching, you know?
THIS IS SCIENCE, THOUGH!! Like romcoms really are specifically designed for the idle cable viewer (which is funny to say because romcoms came before cable, BUT YOU KNOW) -- you can always get sucked into them if you have the time to kill, but if you don't find out how it ends you're still fine (either because you can guess or because you've already seen it a hundred times).